Lawyer: Confession video shows ‘emotional torture'

Thursday

Dec 8, 2011 at 6:00 AMJan 25, 2012 at 3:02 PM

By Thomas Caywood TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

The lawyer for a teen arrested three years ago on a murder charge in the death of her infant son — then locked up for more than two years on what a judge would rule was a coerced confession — yesterday criticized police for what he called blatant “emotional torture.”

Parts of a Worcester Police Department video of the two-hour interrogation of the girl were broadcast yesterday by WBUR, a National Public Radio affiliate in Boston, and the station posted several video clips of the police questioning on its website.

Nga Truong, who was 16 at the time of the interrogation, was released from custody in late August after a Superior Court judge ruled her confession had been coerced by police and thus was not admissible in court. She had been held without bail for 2-1/2 years at the Chicopee Women's Correctional Center.

Worcester District Attorney Joseph D. Early Jr. acknowledged in an interview yesterday that he knew there were problems with the interrogation from the beginning of the case.

“Yes, we wish some things had been done differently,” Mr. Early said.

But he defended his office's decision to prosecute Miss Truong for the death of her 13-month-old son, saying the girl's confession, just a few days before she turned 17, was ample grounds to pursue a murder conviction against her. He said the system ultimately worked as it was designed.

Mr. Early noted that procedures have since changed, and an experienced prosecutor from his staff — usually Senior First Assistant District Attorney Daniel J. Bennett — is now present whenever Worcester police detectives question murder suspects at the station.

Ms. Truong's lawyer, Edward P. Ryan Jr. of Fitchburg, said he was appalled by the tactics of the detectives in the case.

“In 35 years, I have never seen a more brutal interrogation. Brutal in the sense that the emotional torture inflicted on this girl was shocking,” Mr. Ryan said. “I was fairly confident from the moment that I watched that video that this confession was false, that she only told them what they forced her to say.”

Mr. Ryan saw the video of the interrogation by Worcester police Detectives Sgt. Kevin Pageau and John Doherty soon after his client was arrested in early December 2008.

Yesterday, the public got to hear and see parts of the interrogation for the first time.

WBUR reporter David Boeri filed three motions in Worcester Superior Court this year seeking the release of the interrogation video and finally prevailed in September, according to court records.

The video clips show Sgt. Pageau, who is no longer assigned to the Detective Bureau, pressing the tearful girl to admit she killed her baby and a younger brother that had died as an infant years before, aggressively sweeping aside her repeated denials and falsely claiming that the medical examiner ruled the infant boy had been smothered.

Sgt. Pageau and Detective Doherty also tell Miss Truong that her treatment by the courts will be more lenient, and that they can help her and her brothers get help from social workers, if she confesses to the murder.

In her ruling throwing out the confession, Superior Court Judge Janet Kenton-Walker found that Miss Truong's statements to the detectives were not made voluntarily, and investigators did not offer her a “genuine opportunity,” as required by law, to consult with a parent, interested adult or lawyer about her right to remain silent before she spoke with police.

“When, as here, there exists a combination of trickery and implied promises, together with Nga's young age, lack of experience and sophistication, her emotional state, as well as the aggressive nature of the interrogation, the totality of the circumstances suggests a situation potentially coercive to the point of making an innocent person confess to a crime,” the judge wrote.

Judge Kenton-Walker also questioned or rejected the credibility of Sgt. Pageau's testimony in the case several times in her ruling.

Police Chief Gary J. Gemme did not respond to requests for an interview yesterday, but the department released a written statement late in the day summarizing the resolution of the case and outlining current procedures for interviewing murder suspects.

“Since January 2011, by mutual agreement, the district attorney is directly involved in all homicides and serious crimes investigated by the Worcester Police Department,” the statement reads. “The detectives involved in this case continue to perform their duties as investigators with the full support and confidence of the police administration.”

Police Sgt. Donald Cummings, president of Local 504 of the International Brotherhood of Police Officers, praised Sgt. Pageau's professionalism, and said the fact that he now works in the department's Bureau of Professional Standards, which investigates complaints of police misconduct, speaks highly of his reputation for integrity.

“Sgt. Pageau is a 25-year veteran of the department who is very well-respected by his peers,” Sgt. Cummings said.

Mr. Ryan, on behalf of his client, declined a request to interview Ms. Truong, now 20. He said she is enrolled in college and doing well. He also said she has a job, lives elsewhere in the state, and will be a full-time student beginning next semester.

He said her case highlights for the public a tendency of police investigators to go into an interview with a suspect, not seeking answers, but instead pressing for what he called a predetermined outcome.

“They decided how this child died even though they didn't have the medical evidence. This case could be a training video of what not to do,” he said.